Working Past The “NO” Mind

Yesterday was another Katie Day here with Tweed, and he was a bit of a stinker. 

When I first got him, he was as sweet as he could be. She barely had to do any groundwork, and was able to hop right on. 

Everything went well, until he knocked the beam off the new blue razers, which scared him and became his big refusal. 

Much drama ensued as he retreated behind his NO brain. But Katie was patient and worked him through it. 

Afterward, she worked on vertical flexion at trot and lope and he threw her some stuff then, too. Head snaking (as Shirley called it), tossing, and a little jumping around. He was continuing the same refusal attitude from the beam. I was glad it was her, and not me, because she was able to ride through it calmly, continue the work she asks for, and end on a good note where he was loping beautiful circles around the arena.  

She noted afterward that when he gets into that NO mindset it is around 30 minutes to get him back. She wants to see that shorten. 

After she unsaddled him and left, I took him back through at a walk and he didn’t have any issues going over the same pole. She had ended the work with him in a positive, trusting, “yes” head space. She remarked before she left that she wanted him to remain in that space and rest, so I didn’t do anything else with him. 

He gets shoes on Monday, so her next ride will be at the park. I’d like to increase her rides to 2X per week for the first month. 

Before she left, she asked me if he puts his own safety at risk when he refuses on the trail. That was a hard one to answer. When he was plowing down hills last summer, I did think it was dangerous for both of us, but I was also able to address it by taking him down a different way where he had to pay more attention to his feet. The same naughtiness he demonstrated with his NO over the pole is what he does on the trail. He did it going up a hill, but he also gave me time to dismount and walk him up and then remount, where he rode perfectly the rest of the way. 

My answer was, no, I don’t think he puts himself at risk with his refusals, but we do need to address these refusals where it is safe to do so, which means starting him slowly on the trail work and choosing spots that offer safe places for correction. 

We also have to choose our battles. For example, working at home, and being able to see his herd mates chowing down at the round bale, is more difficult for him than working away. He hasn’t acted herd bound with my friend’s horses, only his own herd. 

I probably won’t take a herd mate for the next few weeks of trail training since it will only add one more layer. I’d like to see him going well first, then add that layer. 

One last thought: it was windy yesterday, too. We had a cold front swoosh in and there is no doubt extreme weather changes affect their behavior. It’s not an excuse to forego work and, in fact, makes them better for having gotten to a working mindset DESPITE the weather, but it is a factor. I didn’t even like being out in it. It was that cold, wet wind that seeps into your bones. 

Spring is challenging. 

Let the Sun Shine

Yesterday was cold, wet, and windy, so I figured it would be a good day to do bodywork in the barn. My husband was excited to learn all about it, and work with Leah as I worked with Tumbleweed. (Unfortunately, I didn’t take a single photo. But it was a lovely way to spend time with them.)

We have a Bluetooth speaker in the breezeway, and we played “relaxing piano” as we did the work. Leah loved it. Tweed was a bit worked up for a while, but finally relaxed into it. It’s good for him to learn to settle and it’s good for Leah’s overall health and movement. He got big releases from her. 

My husband isn’t used to the quiet language of connection through bodywork, but the horses all trust him. They do more for him than they usually do. He has some quality they relax into. Leah seems to really enjoy their relationship, even more so than she does with me. I wonder if it’s because he rarely asks more from them than just being petted. He’s always feeding them and fixing things, but not riding them.

Speaking of riding, I got some new obstacles for my arena, stackable rail razers and bending poles.

The razers are meant to get them picking up their legs higher. The bending poles, which just arrived, are to work on…bending. I see the obstacles as mental and physical fitness builders. 

Today we set the clocks ahead, and even though it changes nothing about how much sun we actually get, it changes everything about how much sun we get with our schedule. My husband works from home and now we will have more daylight to do things when he gets off work. 

We plan to take the horses to the equestrian area in the evening and have it be our date nights. A little horse play, a little wine, and some good old medicine that comes from horse/human communion. 

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Cowboy

Happy heavenly birthday to the horse who helped me live the dream. He would have been 31 today. 

Cowboy showed me what a horse and human heart connection could look like. I love and miss him today as much as the day I lost him.

And yet, and yet, I almost gave up on him early in our journey. Imagine that. I almost missed out on all of this. 

Up To Bat: Leah the Lover Girl

I’ve been working with Leah, off and on, alongside Tweed this year with the hope of her being a light trail horse for my husband. 

One thing about my husband, he’s rather fearless. He just jumps right on and giddies up. 

The old girl wanted to race back to the trailer, so I told him to direct her into a circle whenever she sped up, and that cured it. (The above video is an obstacle with criss cross beams). 

The car wash. She's quite oblivious to “whoa,” but I had her stopping on a dime at home, so I know she knows. I need to help him get her “whoa” on. 

The logs. These logs are very large, and Tumbleweed does them easily, but I was surprised to see that Leah also did them with no problem. 

He’s not a fan of being given advice, but they do need slack when they’re coming off an object like that. 

Tumbleweed is a pro at the sandbox. 

We’re kind of limited what we can do until they get shoes on, so we’re going to keep doing the tuneups at the obstacle course, and Leah needs it. They both do. Tweed needs a tuneup in being herd bound. He really has taken on the role of herd stallion, and she’s a mare in his harem. When other horses get near her…watch out. And there were other horses yesterday, so he spent some quality time in the round pen with me. 

When we got home, my daughter and I baked a cake for mu husband’s birthday. He requested lemon poppyseed. 

It was deliciously dangerous. 

Oh, one last thing. I had Cowboy’s bridle set aside after he died, but I couldn’t help borrowing his tassels for Tumbleweed’s. A bit of dejavú yesterday as they swung from side to side off Tweed. It fills my heart to see it. 

 

Walk and Whoa Leah

 

Today was another Katie Day, and we decided to stay home and see how he did on the gate backing from last week. Spoiler Alert: he backed right into the arena at first ask. We were like, well, that was uneventful. 

He had other issues though. The wind was blowing and he was a bit wound up and herd bound. Katie got to work him through that, but it wasn’t as dramatic as last week. One of his things was stopping and putting his head up, rather than stopping with it down. That was a new one.

I took the opportunity to ride my old trail horse, Leah. I figure a little walking and whoaing, sprinkled with backing, is good exercise for her. 

At first, she was excited thinking I was going to put her to work (or who knows what), but when she figured out all I wanted was the walk, she began to drop her head, calm down, and enjoy the ride.

As we were going around and over obstacles, I told her we’re less rock and roll now and more walk and whoa.

She seemed to understand what I meant. 

Tweed was so good at the equestrian park Sunday that I figured it would be best to put off having Katie ride him there until he gets shoes on. I prefer that she be doing what I can’t do already. Plus, the work he does at home pushes all the right buttons and that makes him better away, too.